An open letter to Brian Murphy

Dear Brian Murphy,

You continue to amaze us.

Days after throwing the Bronco men's basketball team under the bus, you are back on the bandwagon. Who let you on? Was it the FOX 12 News at Nine guy? We knew we should have kept a better eye on him.

Your article about the Broncos' winning the WAC championship was a 180 from your previous stance, and it was dripping with condescension and fragments. But amidst the rambling and feelings, you still found time to slip in a shot at BSU fans:

New rule: The bandwagon is accepting all comers. The first sign-up is today at Taco Bell Arena, where the Broncos will watch the NCAA Tournament selection show.

Doors open at 3 p.m. Bring your dancing shoes. Maybe the fans will fill it up. For once.

Ouch! Touche!

We know you'll be busy patting yourself on the back between now and the Broncos' first game on Friday, and you might not have a chance to put the usual half an hour of time and effort into your column. So we figured we would try our hand at writing your column for you. How hard could it be? Answer: not very. See for yourself:

"Who would have thought that the Boise State Broncos would be sitting in Birmingham, Alabama, about to play Rick Pitino and Co. in the NCAA tournament? Certainly not the media. Certainly not the WAC. Certainly not BSU fans.

Bandwagon.

But here they are. The team that wouldn't quit. Head coach Greg Graham has readied his troops for the greatest moment of their careers and the greatest moment in Boise State basketball history--perhaps even the history of amateur basketball.

Statesman.

The lessons learned through the regular season and the WAC tournament will serve this team well. They will not get discouraged if they get down early. Perseverance. They will not panic in crunch time. Relaxed. They will not be intimidated. Vikings.

This Boise State team is different, and it is a shame that more people don't know about them. But perhaps that is why the Broncos are standing here today: to prove everyone wrong.

Bandwagon again.

When Reggie Larry, Matt Nelson, and company hit the court in Alabama on Friday night, the whole world will be watching. What will that world see? It will see grit and toughness, passion and fire, excitement and courage. The world will see the best Boise State Broncos men's basketball team in ever, and no one can take that away from them.

Murph Turf."

You can thank us later, Brian Murphy.

Sincerely,
OBNUG

Ian Johnson to return kickoffs

From Chadd Cripe's Bronco Beat blog:

His role in the offense might slip this year with three other excellent tailbacks on the roster, but he will return kickoffs and could land roles on other special-teams units, too.

We thought there might be some other candidates for kickoff return duties, but it appears that the job is Johnson's to lose.

Cripe's story had a lot of encouraging news on the Johnson front, including the RB's plan not to injure any internal organs this fall. Johnson seems to have really dedicated himself to conditioning and weight training, which means he could have a great senior season ahead. It appears he's not banking on that plumbing/knitting career to pan out.

Ian Johnson getting bigger [Idaho Statesman]

The Press-Tribune and the Arbiter have a couple stories about the QB race. Here are the links:

Broncos search for next QB [Press-Tribune]
BSU searches for a QB, again [Arbiter]

OBNUG roundtable: QB situation

Last week, we ran a post regarding our choice for the Broncos' starting quarterback this fall. We are as upset as anyone that we have to go through this garbage again, but having four good quarterbacks to choose from isn't the end of the world. What is the end of the world? Another senior, first-time starter. Do you hear us Bush Hamdan?

Two of OBNUG's finest got together last week to discuss our QB dilemma. Here is that conversation:

kevanlee: What Jared Zabransky lacked in game management and smarts, he made up for in longevity. And while this quality was alternately a blessing and a curse ("maybe he'll be better next year" and "I can't believe we have another year of this bozo"), I find myself valuing staying power almost more than anything else in this Boise State QB competition.

Taylor Tharp wasn't a bad quarterback last year. But he was inexperienced, and it showed in big games. Obviously, we are going to get the same deer in the headlights looks from this year's crop, but I would prefer to go through growing pains with the future promise of success.

My heart goes out to Bush Hamdan. I wanted him to win the job last year so badly because I thought he could have been an excellent QB for this year's team. With a season under his belt, people would have been talking about Boise State rather than Fresno as preseason favorites. But now that he still has no experience, I couldn't be more against him starting for BSU this season.

That leaves Coughlin, Moore, and Lomax. While a four-year starter sounds like a great idea, I'm not sure that Moore has even hit puberty yet. We saw a lot of Coughlin last season in mop-up duty, and his running ability is intriguing. There's nothing like a white running quarterback to get the blood pumping.

But my vote goes for Lomax. He has great QB size, and he came in with a lot of hype. I want to see him come through on all that promise, and I want him to have two years to do it.

Nick : The one thing we dealt with last year and are dealing with again this year that I absolutely hate, uncertainty. While I can definitely empathize with Bush Hamdan (I too wanted a strong armed quarterback throwing those out patterns last year), I too would feel much better down the road to see a younger qb take the helm.

Things I can live with? Growing pains from a young qb that will be beneficial down the road. Things that make me want to throw myself off the top level of Husky Stadium? Watching our senior qb throw a pick while attempting to throw the ball away and knowing that next year we will have someone else possibly making that same mistake. With that being said, my vote's with Coughlin. He's almost as tall as Lomax and actually got some playing time last year. Furthermore, he'll be a sophomore and a possible 3 year starter. Other 3 year starting quarterbacks from past Bronco teams? Zabransky, Dinwiddie, and Hendricks. Not bad company.

kevanlee: Here is the thing that really bothers me: we have too many likable quarterbacks. This would be my ideal situation: Lomax starts this year and next year. We get a highly touted quarterback in the 2009 recruiting class, who either backs up Lomax during his senior year or redshirts, then we have this hot prospect for the next three or four years.

But for this plan to work, it means that Coughlin will never see the field and Kellen Moore will never see the field. I want to see what these guys can do with this team, but I don't want to go through first-time senior starting quarterback roulette. It's not fair to us, and it's not fair to the team.

Maybe the problem is the BSU coaches' approach to recruiting. I've heard before that they only want to recruit one quarterback in each class. Why? How about having some competition and not spreading the QB position out so thin. Would there be something wrong with two junior quarterbacks? No. I think they should recruit one really good QB and one really bad one, that way the really good one thinks he's all that and he's full of confidence. Something needs to change.

Nick : I see where you're coming from, however, I understand the approach to recruiting a qb in each class. Things happen, someone might get hurt, someone might get caught with the ganja in his car late at night, so I understand the idea of having multiple qb's spread over multiple years. I guess this comes down to Boise State recruiting good to very good qb's without having one rise above the rest to claim the position.

When Hamdan was recruited, we all heard about the hot qb prospect from Maryland with the strong arm. When Lomax was recruited, his height and NFL pedigree was highly touted. We've all heard similar accolades from Coughlin and now Moore. I guess I feel like if Lomax was going to be a great qb for the Broncos, he would have seized the position last year when it was wide open. My guess is that the coaching staff was hesitant to send a red shirt freshman out there with Coughlin and decided to play it safe with Tharp after Hamdan got hurt and Lomax failed to impress, especially coming off the Fiesta Bowl hype. After another year on the sidelines and seeing some game action, I feel like Coughlin is ready to take the reigns.

Bold predictions for the week ahead

Hopefully, the Boise State men's basketball team can pull some BSU-football magic in the NCAA tournament. We foresee a first-round upset, a second-round upset, and head coach Greg Graham's head exploding.

• Reggie Larry will make a buzzer-beater to send the Broncos to the Sweet 16. Afterward, he will propose to teammate Matt Nelson.
• Vinny Perretta will throw his name into the QB competition after a beautiful halfback pass in the first spring scrimmage. Bush Hamdan will not be available to comment.
• OBNUG will win $100 in its Facebook NCAA Tournament pool, and we will put the money directly into R&D--which is our euphemism for Guitar Hero.